Norway to get world’s first wireless charging station for taxis

Norway to get world’s first wireless charging station for taxis

Oslo’s city cabs will charge by air as of 2023

Norway is already way into electric cars. There are plenty of incentives, tax exemptions and discounts in place for EV drivers, which has led the nation to have the world’s highest rate of EV ownership. In 2018, nearly a third of new cars sold in Norway were electric.

Things are about to get even more environmentally friendly, too, as Oslo prepares to become the world’s first city to offer a wireless charging system for electric taxis.

Finland’s utility company Fortum will collaborate with U.S. company Momentum Dynamics and the government of Oslo to embed induction charging plates in the roads at taxi stands, pairing them with receivers placed in the vehicles.

The system strengthens the argument for electric taxis as it allows for recharging as they wait in a line to pick up passengers at the stand.

“The greatest hurdle has proved to be the infrastructure: It is too time-consuming for taxi drivers to find a charger, plug in and then wait for the car to charge,” Fortum wrote in a press announcement.

“The wireless fast-charging project aims to solve these issues and thereby reduce climate emissions from the taxi sector—not only in Norway, but in the entire world.”

Beginning in 2023, all of Oslo’s taxis will be required to be zero emissions.